Youth Hockey Player Who Uses Codey Arena Positive For COVID-19

WEST ORANGE, NJ — A player with a New Jersey Devils youth hockey team has tested positive for the coronavirus, Essex County officials confirmed Monday.

The team is one of several youth hockey groups that uses Codey Arena at the South Mountain Recreation Complex in West Orange.

The Devils organization notified the arena and the team has been quarantined. Essex County officials will not allow them back in for practice or games for a period of at least 10 days, a spokesperson told Patch.

“In addition, we have an aggressive schedule to sanitize the arena,” the spokesperson said. “Our health officer noted that any contact tracing for the player would be conducted by municipal health officers in the municipality where the player resides.”

A spokesperson for the NJ Devils Youth Hockey Club said it's believed that the player contracted COVID-19 while attending a showcase event in Pennsylvania.

"As soon as we were aware of the potential risk we quarantined the team and notified the appropriate parties," the spokesperson said. "As of right now, no one outside of that team has tested positive and we are monitoring the situation closely."

After shutting at the onset of the pandemic – along with many other Essex County-run facilities – the arena partially reopened with new safety precautions that follow protocol from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The arena isn’t open to the general public for general functions such as public skating and birthday parties. But it remains open for pre-registered skaters, youth ice hockey games, figure skating private lessons, hockey private lessons and small, private rental groups/camps using the ice.

According to the Essex County parks department:

“Rigorous cleaning, sanitizing and disinfecting procedures are in place as employees will be disinfecting high touch areas between ice sessions. All employees will be wearing appropriate protective equipment during their shifts. Skaters will be assigned areas to get their skates on/off and employees will disinfect those areas after each use.”

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